1. Technical Field
2. Description of the Background Art
In general, there are a number of food products which are shaped to help the product satisfy a particular function. For example, taco shells often are made by frying corn dough in a folded-over configuration to provide a U-shaped xe2x80x9ctroughxe2x80x9d which is filled with the taco ingredients. With respect to snack food products, consumers often prefer a bowl- or scoop-shaped chip (corn chip, tortilla chip, potato chip, etc.) when eating chips with dip (salsa, bean dip, cheese dip, etc.) because the bowl- or scoop-shaped configuration gives the chip strengthxe2x80x94thereby preventing breakage of the chip while scooping dipxe2x80x94and allows the consumer to scoop up a larger, more satisfying portion of dip.
In the past, the methods and apparatus used to make such shaped products have been somewhat complex. In particular, they have tended to use closed molds in which the product is fixedly held while being cooked. Such configurations, although successful in the sense that they perform the desired function, are difficult to manufacture and prone to breakdown. Accordingly, there has been a need for a method and apparatus to make shaped fried food products (bowl-shaped snack food chips in particular) that is less complex and easier to operate than has been the case in the past.
The method and apparatus according to the invention satisfy this need. In particular, the invention features frying bowl- or scoop-shaped chip preforms by placing the pre forms in bowl-shaped mold cavities to give the preforms a bowl shape, and filling the bowls of the preforms with hot oil to cook the chip preforms xe2x80x9cfrom the inside.xe2x80x9d Preferably, the preforms are only partially cooked while in the mold cavities, i.e., to a moisture content at which they are able to retain their bowl shape independent of the cavities. At that point, the preforms are removed from the cavities and cooked until completion in a second cooking step.
Thus, in a first aspect, the invention features a method of making a bowl-shaped snack food product. The method includes placing chip preforms made from uncooked dough in upwardly concave bowl-shaped mold cavities such that the chip preforms are formed into a bowl shape. The bowl-shaped preforms are then at least partially filled with oil that is hot enough to fry the dough such that the preforms are partially cooked by means of the hot oil. The partially cooked preforms are then removed from the mold cavities and cooked to completion in a second cooking step.
In preferred embodiments, the preforms are fried in the first cooking step only until they are able to retain their bowl shape when removed from the mold cavities, i.e., when they have reached a predetermined moisture content. Furthermore, lower portions of the chip preforms may be disposed in hot oil so that the preforms are cooked xe2x80x9cfrom the outsidexe2x80x9d of the bowl. This may be accomplished by having the mold cavities perforated and dipping the bottom portions of the mold cavities in hot oil. The chip preforms may be removed from the mold cavities by inverting the mold cavities, preferably while simultaneously pushing the preforms out of the cavities by means of ejector members which extend into the mold cavities.
Preferably, the preforms are cooked to completion in a second vat of hot oil. They may be removed from the vat of hot oil by a conveyer that extends out of the vat. Preferably, the preforms are given a desired open-end-down configuration by being dunked or submerged more deeply into the oil and then allowed to float back up to the surface of the oil, with hydrodynamic drag forces causing the bowl-shaped preforms to become inverted as they float up.
In another aspect, the invention features a method of making a bowl-shaped snack food product, in which method chip preforms made of uncooked dough are disposed in upwardly concave, bowl-shaped mold cavities such that they are formed into a bowl shape, and the bowl-shaped preforms are not restrained within the cavities. The unrestrained preforms are then at least partially fried while in the mold cavities, e.g., by being filled with hot oil. Preferably, the preforms are simultaneously fried by having their lower portions partially emerged into a vat of hot oil.
In yet another aspect, the invention features a method of making a bowl-shaped snack food product, in which bowl-shaped chip preforms, which are able to retain their bowl shape independently of any forming means, are disposed in a vat of hot oil to fry the dough and fried until they are fully cooked.
In a still further aspect, the invention features a method of removing cooked food product pieces from a vat of a cooking medium, e.g. hot oil, with a desired orientation to facilitate draining of the pieces. The food product pieces are submerged more deeply in the cooking medium as they float downstream in the medium, and hydrodynamic drag forces cause the food product pieces to assume a desired orientation as they float up to the surface.
In another aspect, the invention features an apparatus for making bowl-shaped food product. The apparatus includes a housing and a plurality of mold bodies disposed within the housing. The mold bodies each have one or more upwardly opening bowl-shaped cavities into which chip preforms made from uncooked dough are placed to give the chip preforms a bowl shape. The apparatus includes a cooking medium distribution system, e.g. an array of nozzle pipes, located above the mold bodies to fill the bowl-shaped preforms with a first cooking medium, e.g. hot oil, thereby cooking the preforms from the insides thereof.
Preferably, the mold bodies are configured to move through the housing, e.g., by having several mold bodies linked together into an endless belt which is disposed within the housing. Preferably, the apparatus is configured such that lower portions of the mold cavities are immersed into a vat or pool of hot oil and the mold cavities have perforated walls which allow hot oil to flow up into the cavities from below, thereby cooking the chip preforms from below, i.e., from the outside of the bowls. Preferably, the apparatus is configured such that the preforms are filled with the cooking medium from above before the preforms are partially immersed into the medium below.
In preferred embodiments, the mold bodies are connected in an endless belt which is trained around one or more ejector wheels. The ejector wheels extend partially up into the cavities through slots in the bottoms of the cavities to help eject the partially cooked preforms from the cavities.
The apparatus may include a conveyor assembly which transports the preforms to the mold bodies, and an air cushion transfer chute which transfers the chip or preforms from conveyor assembly into the mold cavities.
The apparatus may further include a secondary cooking station where cooking of the chip preforms is completed, e.g., a vat for forming a pool or a bath of a second cooking medium such as hot oil. The chip preforms may be removed from the vat by means of a conveyor extending out of the vat, and preferably the vat has a chip orienting means that gives the chips a desired orientation before they are carried out of the hot oil, e.g., a reciprocating plunger which dunks the snack food product pieces and allows them to float back up to the surface with hydrodynamic forces (drag) causing the snack food product pieces to assume the desired orientation.